Today's Poll Question: Should your state pause construction of new data centers?

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Get ready to vote on today's daily poll question at smerconish.com.

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But first, Michael explains it for you, right here.

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Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

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For Independent Minds.

**Michael Smerconish** (0:14)
Hi everybody, today is Thursday, it's the 30th of July. 30th of July, there goes the summer. You know what people are passionate about? Anthony Fauci, Dr. Fauci. Yesterday, 37,547 voted. That's a huge vote. On balance, did Dr. Fauci do more good or more harm?
86.56% of those who voted said more good. My note today in the newsletter, the Daily Newsletter, I hope you're registered for it. I said this, I saw a funny headline at The Hill, five takeaways on Fauci's hostile Senate hearing. And I'm like, five? There was only one takeaway, and that is that our system is broken. Fauci took the fifth 111 times according to Fox News. They were running a counter. He explained, given Senator Paul's obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, the only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, behind bars. Now, you would think that would have ended the hearing, but no, the theater of the absurd ensued. After all, this was the perfect moment for committee members to do what they'd come for, namely, to manufacture video clips of themselves, either browbeating or defending the nation's former top infectious disease official, in pursuit of accolades from opposite ends of the media landscape and the fundraising that follows.
It was a lost opportunity for any substantive dialogue on matters of real importance, including the origin of the coronavirus and whether gain of function research played a causal role.
Credit John Fetterman, who didn't attack Fauci but didn't defend him either. Fetterman observed that the lab leak theory came to be seen as some right-wing conspiracy theory, which kept those on the left, himself included, from entertaining the possibility. He said, I hope the next time our nation is facing something like this, we are not, as I might have been, blinded by the partisan idea that maybe the truth might come from a side that's different than you are. I like those words.
Bottom line, the hearing was a Rorschach test and a glimpse of everything that is wrong with our politics. Today's poll question, this will be interesting, have not asked about this, should your state pause construction of new data centers? Your state. I worded it carefully, I'll tell you why in a minute.

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This is The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

**Michael Smerconish** (3:09)
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The Daily Poll Question at smerconish.com.

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A non-scientific social political question, designed to spark broader discussions about current issues.

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Get ready to cast your ballot and leave a rating and view of this podcast on your favorite podcast app.